Oatly banks on Gen Z and Millennials in its yet-to-be-profitable IPO

You could say Oatly is milking the trend toward sustainable foods.

The Oprah- and Blackstone-backed beverage company filed for an initial public offering on Monday, revealing rapid growth alongside continued losses.

Last year, revenue more than doubled to about $421.4 million amid a loss of $60.4 million, with the latter figure growing about 70% compared to the same period in 2019.

Founded in the 1990s, the company hit stride in recent years as more consumers preferred brands that promote health and sustainability. Oatly has centered itself within that shift, with one version of its label declaring in prominent bold font: “We promise to be a good company.”

And while the company has yet to turn a profit, it is banking on that trend accelerating, driven by the next generation.

“The growing concerns for the environment and interest in health and nutrition have started to drive real, scaled behavioral changes around consumer purchase choices,” the prospectus read. “Generation Z and Millennials will become the dominant global generations in the coming years.”

A fascinating tidbit: While many headlines have touted Blackstone and Oprah’s investments in the firm, neither are named as an investor with greater than a 5% stake in the business. Instead, one of Oatly’s largest investors is China Resources, a state-owned conglomerate with a roughly 30% stake through a joint venture.

In its IPO prospectus, Oatly makes it clear that it’s aware of ongoing tensions between China and the U.S. As part of an agreement with its shareholders, Oatly noted that it may seek an additional listing in Hong Kong if the U.S. government seeks to force China Resources to divest from the company or not appoint a director to the board.

The company will also seek a listing in Hong Kong if it generates over 25% of its revenue from sales in the Asia Pacific region for two consecutive quarters two years after going public in the U.S. About 12.7% of its revenue came from Asia in 2020.

PAUSE ON MENOPAUSE: Here’s a fascinating startup that is looking to buy an extra 10 to 15 years for women before they hit menopause.

Per my colleague Beth Kowitt: “Celmatix is creating a drug program that would effectively slow the depletion of a woman’s ovarian reserve, or how many follicles she loses each month. Beim equates a woman’s follicles—which have the potential to turn into eggs—with a bank account: Every woman is born with a different number, and she depletes it a different rate, depending on everything from genetics to environmental exposure. For example, women who smoke deplete their ovarian reserve more quickly.”

 Read more.

Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com

VENTURE DEALS

- Chargebee, a San Francisco and India-based a provider of subscription-billing software, raised $125 million in Series G funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Tiger Global and Insight Partners.

- Clearbanc, a Canadian-based e-commerce investor and lender, raised $100 million in Series C funding, valuing it at about $2 billion. Oak HC/FT led the round.

- Alan, a French healthcare app maker, raised €185 million ($222.7 million) in a Series D funding, valuing it at €1.4 billion ($1.7 billion). Coatue led the round and was joined by investors including Dragoneer, Exor, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and Temasek.

- SES, a Boston-based maker of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, raised $139 million in Series D funding. General Motors led the round and was joined by investors including SK, Temasek, Applied Ventures, Shanghai Auto, and Vertex.

- Classy.org, a San Diego-based provider of cloud-based fundraising tech for nonprofits, raised $118 million in Series D funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round.

- Zilch, a London-based "buy now, pay later" fintech, raised $80 million in Series B funding. The deal values it above $500 million. Investors included Gauss Ventures and M&F Fund. 

- Virta Health, a San Francisco-based company focused on Type 2 diabetes, raised $133 million. Tiger Global led the round.

- Sense Biodetection, U.K.-based molecular diagnostics company, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies led the round and was joined by investors including Cambridge Innovation Capital, Earlybird Health, Jonathan Milner, and Mercia Asset Management.

- MANTL, a New York-based digital account solution for banks and credit unions, raised $40 million in Series B funding. CapitalG led the round and was joined by investors including D1 Capital Partners, BoxGroup, Point72 Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, and OldSlip Group.

- HYPR, a New York-based passwordless security company, raised $35 million in a Series C funding. Advent International led the round.

- Archipelago, a San Francisco-based commercial property risk analysis platform, raised $34 million in Series B funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Canaan Partners, Ignition Partners, and Zigg Capital.

- Hungry Planet, a St. Louis-based plant-based meat company, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Post Holdings (NYSE: POST) led the round and was joined by investors including TRIREC.

- Payhawk, a payments and expense management platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. QED Investors led the round.

- Cape Privacy, an encrypted learning platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Evolution Equity Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Tiger Global Management, Ridgeline Partners and Tom Noonan of Downing Lane.

- Hash, a Brazilian payment infrastructure fintech, raised $15 million in Series B funding. QED Investors led the round and was joined by investors including Kaszek and Canary.

- Candex, a Miami-based payment processing platform, raised $20 million as part of a Series A round. Altos Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including NFX, American Express Ventures, J.P. Morgan, Edenred Capital Partners, and Commerce Ventures.

- Catch&Release, a San Francisco-based content-licensing platform, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by investors including Cervin Ventures.

- Knox Financial, a Boston-based fintech focused on investment properties, raised $10 million in Series A funding. G20 Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Greycroft, Pillar VC, 2LVC, and Gaingels.  

- Bespoke Financial, a Los Angeles-based lending service to the cannabis industry, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Casa Verde Capital and Sweat Equity Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Ceres Group Holdings, Greenhouse Capital Partners, Philip Barach (DoubleLine Capital’s former president ), and Robert Stavis.

- Grip Security, a Tel Aviv-based security startup, raised $6 million in seed funding. YL Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including George Kurtz (Crowdstrike CEO).

- Chain.io, a Philadelphia-based provider of a cloud supply chain integration platform, raised $5 million. Grand Ventures and Mercury led the round and were joined by investors including Honeywell Ventures and Engage.

- The Expert, a Los Angeles-based platform for video consultations with interior designers, raised $3 million in seed funding. Forerunner Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Sweet Capital, Promus Ventures, Golden Ventures, WndrCo, AD 100 designer Brigette Romanek and founder of goop, Gwyneth Paltrow.

- Swarm Engineering, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of food supply chain software, raised $2.7 million in seed funding. S2G Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Serra Ventures, Harvard Business School Alumni, Wells Street Capital, VTC Seed Fund, and Rinvest.

- Casa Blanca, a New York-based maker of a home-finding app, raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Samuel Ben-Avraham (a partner and early investor of Kith), led the round.

- SiteKick, a Minneapolis-based construction-site productivity startup, raised $2.3 million. Great North Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Bootstrappers.

- Dataiku, a New York-based A.I. and machine learning platform, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Snowflake Ventures.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Oaktree Capital Management has offered as much as A$3 billion ($2.3 billion) in financing to Crown Resorts, a troubled casino operator, to help the business buy some of billionaire James Packer’s shares. 

- Insight Partners invested $172.5 million for a minority stake in Octopus Deploy, an Australian delivery and deployment automation company.

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe agreed to acquire Absorb Software, a Canada-based provider of cloud-based learning and performance management software. The deal values the business at over $500 million.

- GI Partners invested in Aras, an Andover, Mass.-based developer of product development software. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Ardian Growth and MCH Private Equity agreed to acquire Logalty, a Spanish legaltech firm. Swen Capital Partner also invested. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Warburg Pincus launched Aquila Air Capital, a finance platform focused on commercial aerospace, alongside Al Wood and Kepler Hill Capital. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

EXITS

- Mastercard (NYSE: MA) acquired Ekata, a Seattle-based identity verification company,  for $850 million.

- Madison Dearborn Partners acquired ARCH Precision Components, a producer of precision-machined components for manufacturers in the aerospace and defense industry, from The Jordan Company-backed ARCH Global Precision. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Kantar agreed to acquire Numerator, a Chicago-based market intelligence company, from Vista Equity Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- GoodRx acquired HealthiNation, a New York-based virtual healthcare company backed by MK Capital. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

OTHER

- The U.K. government is looking into the national security implications of Nvidia's $40 billion acquisition of ARM Holdings, a British chip designer. 

- Centricus Asset Management is in talks with UEFA, the union of European Football Associations, over a €6 billion ($7.2 billion) deal in part to block a new European Super League, per Bloomberg.

- JP Morgan committed to underwrite an a deal to help set up a European soccer Super League. THe bank has agreed to commit an initial €3.5 billion ($4.2 billion).

- JBS agreed to acquire Vivera, a Dutch plant-based protein company,  for 341 million euros ($408 million).

- Atlassian acquired ThinkTilt, an Australia-based maker of ProForma. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPOS

- UiPath, an automation startup, now aims to raise roughly $1.3 billion in an IPO of 23.9 million shares priced between $52 and $54 apiece.

- FTC Solar, an Austin-based maker of solar tracking systems, now plans to raise $350 million in an offering of 18.4 million shares priced between $18 to $20. 

- Treace Medical Concepts, a Ponte Vedra, Fla.-based medical device company focused on bunions, now plans to raise $150 million in an offering of 9.4 million shares (33% insider sold) priced between $15 to $17. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Rain Therapeutics, a Newark, Calif.-based company developing cancer treatments, now plans to raise $125 million in an offering 7.4 million shares priced between $16 to $18. BVF, Boxer Capital, and Cormorant Capital back the firm.

- Hear.com, an Utrecht, Netherlands-based provider of hearing care, filed to raise $100 million. EQT backs the firm.

- Impel NeuroPharma, a Seattle-based biotech developing drugs for central nervous system diseases, now plans to raise $80 million in an offering of 5.3 million shares priced between $14 to $16. 5AM Ventures, KKR, and Norwest back the firm.

F+FS

- Kleiner Perkins, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture firm, closed  Kleiner Perkins Select with $750 million.

- Zoom, a San Jose, Calif.-based video conferencing company, announced an $100 million investment fund focused on startups.

PEOPLE

- B Capital Group, a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based venture firm, hired Robert Mittendorff as a general partner and head of healthcare investing. He previously was a partner at Norwest Venture Partners.

- Argand Partners, a New York- and San Francisco Bay Area-based industrials private equity firm, promoted Charlie Burns to principal, Ryan Beres to vice president, and Brendan Fogarty and Riley McCabe to senior associate.